The Dictionary of Philosophy

The Dictionary

of Philosophy

ditd by

;

Dagobert D. Runes

Philosophical Library

NwYorfc

All Rights Reserved

by Philosophical Library, Inc. 15 East 40th Street,

Printtd In th

New

York, N. Y.

U. S. A.

CONTRIBUTORS NAMES

INITIALS

ALONZO CHURCH

A.C.

A. CORNELIUS

A.C.B.

-A. C.

A.C.P.

A. C. PEGIS

ARCHIE

J.

FULLER

B. A. G.

B.A.G.F.

KURT

K.F.L

LEIDECKER

F.

KATHARINE GILBERT

DENONN M. HAMMOND

LESTER

L.E.D.

BAHM

WEINBERG

JULIUS R.

/./?. IF.

K.G.

ALBERT G. A. BALZ

A.G.A.B. A.J.B.

BENJAMIN

EWING

A.C.E.

NAMES' *

INITIALS

E.

LEWIS

L.M.H.

LIONELLO VENTURI

LV.

WOOD

L.W.

LEDGER

MAX BLACK

C.A.B.

CHARLES A. BAYLIS

M.B.

C.A.H.

CHARLES A. HART

M.T.K.

MORRIS T. KEETON

C.G.H.

CARL G. HEMPEL

M.B.M.

MARCUS

C

C./.D.

C.K.D.

DUCASSE

J.

C. K.

DORION CAIRNS

D.C.

MAX

M.F.

DAVENPORT

B.

MALLETT

FISHLER

MEYER WAXMANN

M. W.

OTTO

O.F.K.

F.

KRAUSHAAR

E.A.M.

ERNEST A. MOODY EMMANUEL CHAPMAN

P.A.S.

E.C.

P.O.JC.

PAUL O. KRISTELLER

E.P.

ERICH FRANK

P.P. IF.

PHILIP

EUGENE HOLMES

E.H.

EDGAR SHEFFIELD BRIGHTMAN

E.S.B.

F.L. IF.

FREDERICK

F.M.G.

FELIX M.

FRITZ

F.K.

F.S.C.N.

L.

WILL

GATZ

KUNZ

F. S. C.

NORTHROP

GEORGE BOAS

G.B.

G.R.M. GLENN R. MORROW G.W.C.G. WATTS CUNNINGHAM

HUNTER GUTHRIE H.Go. HEINRICH GOMPERZ H.G.

-HERMAN HAUSHEER

H.H.

H.LG.H. /./.

L.

GORDON

IREDELL JENKINS

/.JJ.B.

JOHN EDWARD BENTLEY

J.J.R.J. J.K.F.

/.M.

J.

ROLBIECKI

p. W.

PAUL WEISS

RALPH

KJ3.JF.

MACPHERSON SOMERVILLE

B.

WINN

RUDOLF CARNAP

R.C.

R.M.J.

RUFUS M. JONES

R.T.F.

RALPH TYLER FLEWELLING SIGMAR VON FERSEN

S.v.F. S.S.S.

STEVENS

S. S.

T.G.

THOMAS GREENWOOD

T.M.

THOMAS MUNRO

V.F.

VERGILIUS FERM

VERNON

V.J.B.

V.JM.V.

J.

J.

BOURKE

McGiLL

1F.JB.

WALTER ECKSTEIN

IF.F.

^WILLIAM FRANKENA

IF.!.

WILBUR LONG i.

JOSEPH MAIER

J.

PAUL WIENER

RUDOLF ALLERS

R.A.

JAMES K. FEIBLEMAN

J.A.F.JOSE A. FRANQUIZ J.M.S.

PAUL A. SCHILPP

WILLIAM MARIAS MALISOFF W.

W.S. IF.

IF.r.C

NORMAN

WILLIAM

W.

T.

S.

CHAN

PTTTENGER

WEEDON

ABBREVIATIONS AS.

Anglo Saxon

C.

Chinese

Fr.

French

Ger.

Gr.

Greek

Lat.

Latin

Heb.

German

Skr.

q.v.

quod vide

Hebrew Sanskrit

"ace

The aim of this dictionary is to provide teachers, students and laymen interested in philosophy with clear, concise, and correct definitions and descriptions of the philosophical terms, throughout the range of philosophic thought. In the volume are represented all the branches as well as schools of ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy. In any such conspectus, it is increasingly recognized that the Oriental philosophies must

be accorded ample space beside those of the western world.

The

great field that must be compressed within the limits of a small inevitable. If any topics, or phases of a subject,

volume makes omissions

deserve space not here accorded them, it may be possible in future editions them room; I take this occasion to invite suggest iops and criticism,

to allow

to that end.

Clarity

concord

and correctness would be more easily secured if there were philosophers. Scarcely any two thinkers would define phi-

among

losophy alike ; nor are they likely to agree as to the significance of its basic concepts. The value of a one-volume dictionary, nonetheless, makes the effort worthwhile.

"Dictionaries are like watches,'* Samuel Johnson said; "the best cannot be expected to go quite true, but the worst is better than none." I

trust that the present

volume

will serve as reliably as the chrono-

meter of today, in the time-pattern of the philosophic world. I owe a debt of profound appreciation to every one of the many collaborators that have so generously contributed to the Dictionary. EspeWilliam Marias cially do I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to Professors

Malisoff and Ledger

Wood. Needless

to say, the final responsibility, as

to the general plan of the volume, together with the burden of any short-

comings,

rests solely

upon the

editor.

THE EDITOR

(DiXoocxploc

B(ou Ku6epvf|tT]q

Abailard, Peter: (1079-1142) let

France

in

liant

>

student

Was

studied logic with Roscelin and

He

peaux.

born

at Pal-

distinguished himself as a brilof the trivium and quadriviumj

taught philosophy,

Wm.

Chamwith much emof

Melun, Corbeil, and' the of St. Genevieve and Notre Dame in He was lecturing on theology in Paris Paris. c. 1113 when he was involved in the romantic and unfortunate interlude with Heloise. First condemned for heresy in 1121, he became Abbot of St. Gildas in 1125, and after returning phasis schools

on

at

dialectic,

teach theology in Paris, his religious views were censured by the Council of Sens (1141).

to

He died God and

at

after

Cluny

making

his peace with

Tactless, but very intelligent, Abailard set the course of mediaeval philosophy for two centuries with his interest in his Church.

the problem of universals. He appears to have adopted a nominalistic solution, rather than the semi-realistic position attributed to him by the

older

historians.

Chief works: Sic

et

Non

(c.

Theologta Christiana (c. 1124), Scito and several Logical (1125-1138) Glosses (ed. B. Geyer, Abaelard y s Philos. Schrijt. 1122),

Teipsum

BGPM, XXI, J.

Eng.,

G.

1-3).

Peter

Sickes,

Abaelard

(Cambridge,

1932).F./..

Abdera, School of:

Founded by the Atomist

Important members, Metrodorus of and Anaxarchus of Abdera (teacher of Pyrrho, into whose hands the school leadership Democritus.

Chios

fell), thus inspiring

Pyrrhonism.

Pyrrhonism. See Democritus,

E.H.

Abduction: (Gr. apagoge) In

Aristotle's logic a

whose major premiss is certain but whose minor premiss is only probable. G.R.M. In Peirce: type of inference yielding an ex-

syllogism

planatory hypothesis (q.v.), rather than a result of deductive application of a "rule" to a "case" or establishment of a rule by induction.

Ab

esse ad posse valet, a posse ad esse non valet consequential Adage expressing the perof arguing from facts to possibility and denying the validity of arguments proceedJ.J.R. ing from possibility to reality.

missibility

Abhasa, jibhasana:

"Shining forth", the cosmopsychological process of the One becoming the Many as described by the Trika (q.v.) which regards the

Many

(Skr.)

as a real aspect of the ultimate

Parama Siva

reality or

Reflection, objectivity.

Abheda:

(Skr. "not distinct")

larly in reference to

which

Indian Philosophy). K.F.L.

(cf.

does

recognize

the

distinctness

and material, or divine and

spiritual

human

not

Identity, particu-

any philosophy of monism of

essentially

K.F.L.

principles.

Don

Isaac: Exegete and philosopher (1437-1508), was born in Lisbon, Portugal, emigrated to Toledo, Spain, and after the expulHe wrote a number of sion settled in Italy.

Abravanel,

philosophical works,

among them

a

commentary

on parts of the Guide. He follows in most of his views Maimonides but was also influenced by

M.W.

Crescas.

Abravanel,

Judah:

Or Judah

Leon

Medigo

(1470-1530), son of Don Isaac, settled in Italy after the expulsion from Spain. In his Dial&gAi d'Amore, i.e., Dialogues about Love, he conceives, in Platonic fashion, love as the principle

permeating the universe. It emanates from God to the beings, and from the beings reverts back to

of

God.

It

universal

is

possible

love exerted

the concept of

Amor

that

his

conception

some influence upon

Dei of Spinoza.

M.W.

Absolute: (Lat. absolvere to release or set free) Of this term Stephanus Chauvin in the Lexicon Philosophicum, 1713, p2 observes: "Because one is said to be free from another in many ways, so also the word absolute is taken by the

thing

senses." In Medieval term was variously used, for example: freed or abstracted from material conditions, hence from contingency} hence applicable to all being; without limitations or restrictions; simply} totally; independent} unconditionally} uncaused} free from mental reserva-

philosophers in Scholasticism this

many

tion.

Much of this Medieval usage is carried over and expanded in modern philosophy. Absolute and Absolutely signify perfection, completeness, universality, non-relativity, exemption

from lim-

or qualification, unconditional ity; hence also the ineffable, unthinkable, indeterminable}

itation

strictly,

bolically

truth,"

literally,

without reservation, not sym-

or

"Absolute metaphorically. E.g. "absolute space," "absolute Ego," "ab-

W.L. solutely unconditioned," "absolutely true." Absolute Ego: In Fichte's philosophy, the Ego or Subject prior to its differentiation into an W.L> empirical (or historical) self and not-self.

DICTIONARY OF PHILOSOPHY Absolute Idealism HegeLW.L. Absolute, The: (in Metaphysics) Most broadly, :

See Idealism,

referent of thought. opposite of the Reladistinction is to be made tive (Absolute). between the singular and generic use of the term. A. While Nicholas of Cusa referred to God

the

terminus

ultimate

or

The Unconditioned. The

A

Spinoza, the God of Malebranche and Berkeley, the Energy of materialism, the Space-Time of realism, the Pure Experience of phenomenalism, the ding-an-sich (q.v.) of Kant. B. Generically "an absolute" lute"

as opposed to

"the abso-

or

means

"absolutes")

(pi.

the

(a)

appearance;

real

(b)

as "the

(thing-in-itself) the substantival, substance,

came

aseity or self-existence) as opposed to relations;

absolute," the noun form of this term into common use through the writings of

and Hegel. Its adoption spread in France through Cousin and in Britain through Hamilton. According to Kant the Ideas of

Schelling

Reason seek both the absolute totality of conditions and their absolutely unconditioned Ground. This Ground of the Real Fichte identified with the Absolute Ego (q.v.). For Schelling the Absolute is a primordial World Ground, a spiritual unity behind all logical and ontological oppositions,

the

source

self-differentiating

of

both

Mind and

For Hegel, however, the Nature. Absolute is the All conceived as a timeless, perfect, organic whole of self-thinking Thought. In England the Absolute has occasionally been Real considered as unrelated or "unconditioned" and hence as the "UnknowUntil recently, able" (Mansel, H. Spencer). however, it was commonly appropriated by the Absolute Idealists to connote with Hegel the complete, the whole, the perfect, i.e. the Real conceived as an all-embracing unity that comidentified with the

plements, synthesis

fulfills,

the

or

partial,

transmutes into a higher

and

fragmentary,

"self-

contradictory"

experiences, thoughts, purposes, values, and achievements of finite existence. The specific emphasis given to this all-inclusive per-

considerably, i.e. logical wholeness or concreteness (Hegel), metaphysical com-

fection

varies

pleteness (Hamilton), mystical feeling (Bradley), aesthetic completeness (Bosanquet), moral

perfection (Royce). The Absolute is also variously conceived by this school as an all-inclusive Person, a Society of persons, and as an impersonal whole of Experience. More recently the term has been extended to mean also (a) the All or totality of the real,

however understood, and (b)

the

World Ground,

whether conceived idealistically or materialistiwhether pantheistically, theistically, or cally, dualistically.

It

thus

stands

for

a

variety

of

metaphysical conceptions that have appeared widely and under various names in the history of philosophy. In China: the Wu Chi (NonBeing), T'ai Chi (Being), and, on occasion, Tao. In India: the Vedantic Atman (Self) and

Brahman

(the Real), the Buddhist

(indeterminate

Thatness),

B hutatat hata

Vignapttmdtra

(the consciousness

One, pure, changeless, eternal grounding all appearances), and the Void of Nagarjuna. In Greece: the cosmic matrix of the Ionian*, the One of the Eleatics, the Being or Good of Plato, the World Reason of Stoicism, the One of Neo-Platonism. In patristic and scholastic Christianity: the creator God, the Ens Realissimum, Ens Perfectissimum, Sui Causa, and

God of mysticism generally (Erigena, Hugo of St. Victor, Cusa, Boehme, Bruno). In modthought: the Substance of Descartes and the

ern

reals

(possessing

(c) the perfect, non-comparative, complete of its (d) the primordial or uncaused; (e) the

kind;

independent or autonomous. the

as

changeless,

logic involves such of thought and

Aristotelian

(a)

Logic, absolutes

laws

three

real

objectively

classes

or

species,

In Kantian logic the categories and prin-

(b)

judgment are

of

ciples

a

i.e.

absolutes,

priori,

while the Ideas of reason seek absolute totality and unity, (c) In the organic or metaphysical logic of the Hegelian school, the Absolute is considered the ultimate terminus, referent, or subject of every judgment.

Ethics and Axiology. Moral and axiological values, norms, principles, maxims, laws are considered absolutes when universally valid objects of acknowledgment, whether conditionally or

unconditionally {e.g. the law of the best possible, the utilitarian greatest happiness principle, the Kantian categorical imperative). Aesthetics. Aesthetic absolutes are standards, norms, principles of aesthetic taste considered as i.e.

objective,

Absolutism

:

W.L.

universally valid.

The

opposite of Relativism. the theory of the Absolute

1.

Metaphysics:

2.

Epistemology: the doctrine that objective or absolute, and not merely relative and human,

3.

Axiology: the view that standards of value (moral or aesthetic) are absolute, objective, superhuman, eternal.

(q-v.).

truth

4.

is

possible.

Politics. Cult of unrestricted sovereignty lo-

cated in the ruler.

Absolutistic

W.L.

The

Personalism:

Absorption: The name law

ascription

of

R.T.F.

personality to the Absolute.

of absoiption is given

either of the two dually related theorems of the prepositional calculus, [p v pq\ =S p, p[p v q] p, or either of the t\\o corresponding dually related to

&

theorems of the algebra of classes, a -> (a *"* b) rr a, a n {a

b) sr a, valid inference of the prepositional calculus which amounts to replacing A v by A, or -*

Any

AB

A[A

v

B"J

by A, or any valid inference of the

algebra

of

classes

A " (A is

which amounts

B) by A, or

A

(A

to

replacing

B) by A,

called absorption.

Whitehead and Russell {Principia Mathemagive the name law of absorption to the theorem of the prepositional calculus, [P 3 9] [P pg].

tica)

s

s

A. C.

Abstract:

A ity

(Lat. ab,

from

-f-

trahere, to

draw)

designation applied to a partial aspect or qualconsidered in isolation from a total object,

which

is,

in contrast, designated concrete.

L.W.

DICTIONARY OF PHILOSOPHY Such neutral, purely denotative ennumbers, relations, logical conin cepts, appearing neither directly nor literally H.H. time. (Broad) Abstractio imaginationis : According to the Scholastics a degree of abstraction below that of reason and above that of the senses, which do abstract from matter, but not from the presence of matter, whereas the imagination abstracts even from the presence of matter, but not from its